


i'm something so familiar (that you don't even notice)

by siimplyviibiing (llostt_in_ttranslationn)



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: F/F, Recreational Drug Use, aka cigarettes and weed, but this fic is set in present day so homophobia isn't that prevalent, dani is cousins with the crain siblings, eddie is homophobic, just teenage damie falling in love, no ghosts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27530035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llostt_in_ttranslationn/pseuds/siimplyviibiing
Summary: A few weeks ago, Jamie didn't even know Dani existed. Now, she can't think of anything else.(Title from "anything 4 u" by LANY)
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 10
Kudos: 134





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i will never emotionally recover from bly manor

**theo c [8:42PM]**

_i need a favor._

**jamie t [8:43PM]**

_aren’t ya in class??_

**theo c [8:43PM]**

_that’s why i need a favor._

**jamie t [8:45PM]**

_out with it then, crain_

**theo c [8:46PM]**

_my cousin got herself into a bit of trouble downtown and she needs a ride home._

**jamie t [8:50PM]**

_send me the addy_

**theo c [8:51PM]**

_i owe you one, jam_ _e!_

**jamie t [8:52PM]**

_i’ll be sure to add that to the hundred others ;)_

Jamie really, really doesn’t make it a habit to do favors for anybody. But Theo was the first friend she made in America, and the older girl has proved time and time again that she puts just as much into this friendship as Jamie does. So, Jamie will drive into the heart of the city and pick up Theo’s cousin like some glorified taxi service, because Theo would do the same for Jamie’s family.

Jamie recognizes the address that Theo sends her. It’s on the same street as the restaurant that one of Jamie’s only other friends is a busser at. At least it’s not in some shady neighborhood, Jamie reasons as she guides her truck through the busy Friday night traffic.

Jamie pulls up right in front of the café that her phone’s GPS directs her to, where she spots a girl with messy blonde hair sitting on a bench outside. 

“Oi!” Jamie calls out as she rolls down the passenger side window. “Are you Theo’s cousin?”

The blonde looks up, and Jamie can see the way tear streaks stain her cheeks. She wipes under her eyes and stands up, clutching her purse tightly. “I am.”

“I’m here to drive ya home!” Jamie tells her.

The blonde moves towards Jamie’s truck on shaky legs and climbs into the passenger’s seat. “I’m Danielle... Just Dani, actually.”

“Jamie.”

“Thank you for coming all the way out here. I’m sorry if it’s any trouble,” Dani says. 

Jamie shrugs, merging back onto the street. “No worries. Where to?”

“You know Hill House?” Dani asks.

“Sure,” Jamie nods. “Theo’s family’s creepy house in the woods.” 

Dani lets out a soft laugh, and Jamie finds herself craving to hear it again. “It’s only like, _a little bit_ haunted.”

Jamie scoffs, then swerves slightly and slams on the breaks as a car cuts in front of her with no warning. “God fucking damnit!”

After the third occasion where Jamie nearly crashes the truck, Dani speaks up. “Do you actually have a license or what?”

“Think you’re funny there, Dani, huh? I’ll have you know when I was jacking cars to go for joyrides back in London, nobody said a damn thing ‘bout my driving skills.”

“Oh so that’s why you keep drifting into the wrong lane, then?” Dani challenges with a smirk that Jamie can see in her peripherals. 

“Pipe down, mate. Or I’ll drop ya right here and make ya walk the rest of the way,” Jamie offers a grin of her own in hopes to convey she’s actually just fucking around. She’s been told a few too many times that her accent makes her jokes land wrong most of the time, and she doesn’t want to upset Theo’s gorgeous and clearly very sad cousin.

“I can see why you and Theo are friends,” Dani tells her. 

“She’s a shit driver, too, then?” Jamie asks.

And Dani laughs again. Something inside Jamie shines. With pride at being the cause of such a pretty sound, probably.

“Not as bad as you. Or Shirley, for that matter.”

“Bit too tense to be a good driver, that one is.” Jamie points out. 

“She says she can’t focus with Nellie screaming at her from the backseat,” Dani explains.

“And what about you, huh? Ya look old enough to have a permit, at least.”

“I do! I’m almost seventeen!” Dani says defensively.

“Oi, I didn’t mean anything negative, love. Just making an observation,” Jamie placates.

Dani sighs, rubbing a hand over her face. “Sorry. I’ve had a pretty rough night.”

“Fancy chatting ‘bout it?” Jamie isn’t quite sure why she offers. She usually couldn’t care less about the problems of strangers, but she’s inexplicably drawn to Dani; she could probably listen to the girl talk for hours.

Jamie can see out of the corner of her eye that Dani is contemplating the offer, and she could likely pinpoint the exact moment that the blonde decides to spill her guts.

“I broke up with my boyfriend tonight. I wasn’t planning on it, but there were two boys holding hands at the café, and he made this horrible remark about them. And he _knows_ that’s a sensitive subject for me. Theo’s gay, obviously you know that, but so is Luke, her little brother, you might know him?”

Jamie nods. She’s very familiar with all the Crain siblings after three years being best friends with Theo.

“And Eddie’s never really liked Theo, but I thought it was just because she’s a bit abrasive, y’know? I didn’t think it had anything to do with her liking women, and Eddie I don’t think knows about Luke. But the look in his eyes when one of the boys kissed the other on the cheek made me feel so sick inside. So I just ended things, right then and there. Pretty stupid of me considering Eddie drove us there.”

“Pretty brave of you, actually,” Jamie disagrees. “Most straight girls just ignore the blatant homophobia their boyfriends show. Gotta say, I’m impressed.”

“Oh,” Dani says. “Are you…?”

“Gay?” Jamie laughs. “Very.”

“Oh!” Dani repeats. “Are you and Theo…?”

“Together?” Jamie finishes Dani’s thought again. “Nah, she’s just one of my mates.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes as Jamie drives, nearing the long dirt road that leads to the Crain family home.

“So, how long have you been staying with the Crains? I’m a bit surprised we haven’t met yet.”

“Since I was ten, actually,” Dani answers. “Theo talks about you sometimes, but you don’t like coming to the house much, do you?”

“I don’t have very good memories about big houses in the middle of the woods,” Jamie shrugs. “But Theo usually comes to my place, anyways. I’m in charge of watching my kid brother most of the time, so she keeps me company a lot.”

And just like that, they’ve arrived in front of the house.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Dani says as she unbuckles her seatbelt. “And for listening to me ramble about my problems.”

“Anytime,” Jamie shrugs.

Dani pushes her door open, but doesn’t step out. “Maybe we’ll see each other around sometime?”

Jamie offers a smile. “I don’t doubt it.”

Dani grins, and finally hops out of the truck. Jamie waits until the blonde is safely inside before shifting back into drive and beginning the journey home.

A half hour later, Jamie shoots a text to Theo as she climbs into bed.

**jamie t [10:04PM]**

_can’t believe youve kept your cousin a secret from me for 3 whole years_

_she’s a proper gem_

_dunno how the hell shes related to a punk like you, crain_

**theo c [10:29PM]**

_i thought you 2 might get along a bit too well ;)_

And Jamie isn’t sure she knows what Theo means by that, but she can’t lie and say that she’s not sort of enchanted with Theo’s cousin, so she opts for simply sending the middle finger emoji to Theo, and then plugging her phone into its charger and calling it a night. She can dwell more on what it all means tomorrow. Or never, preferably.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to be making longer chapters but i don't want to drag things out just for the sake of having more words like i used to do in school essays, so i hope you can settle for a thousand or so words every few days maybe. idk i'm really just winging things at the moment but i haven't not been thinking about dani and jamie in weeks so yeah. enjoy!

Jamie likes to eat lunch in the abandoned greenhouse behind the science wing of the school. She wishes that the school didn’t shut down their horticulture program due to lack of interest several years before Jamie even moved to the States. Instead of beautiful plants, the greenhouse has only old tools and weeds. But it’s a fine enough place for Jamie to hide out for her half-hour lunch period. Much better than being crammed in the cafeteria with a hundred other students.

So it’s quite a shock when the door of the greenhouse swings open a few minutes after Jamie arrives, because no one has ever wandered in before. Even Jamie’s closest friend at school, Owen, doesn’t dare bother her here.

“Jamie! There you are!”

And it shouldn’t surprise her that the two youngest Crain siblings are the ones who have disrupted her peace and quiet.

“Here I am,” Jamie echoes. “What can I do for ya?”

“We heard you met Dani on Friday!” Nell says as she plops down on the rickety bench Jamie occupies. Luke sits down on her other side, much gentler than his twin.

“Theo had her late-night class and asked me to give Dani a ride home since she couldn’t,” Jamie shrugs.

“Why though?” Nell presses. “Dani was out on a date with Edmund. He wouldn’t have just ditched her. He's practically obsessed with her!”

Jamie fidgets. “I guess if she wanted to tell ya, she would’ve, yeah?”

“We just wanna know if Luke and Steve have gotta beat Edmund up for something,” Nell explains.

“Um, I actually think maybe Luke should keep his distance from Edmund.”

“So you _do_ know what happened!”

“Maybe Jamie is right, Nellie,” Luke says quietly. “Maybe we should mind our own business.”

Jamie spares him a glance, and he’s clearly uneasy. She wonders if maybe Edmund isn’t as ignorant to Luke’s preferences as Dani had thought. Even worse would be if Edmund acted on his prejudices and Luke had kept it quiet in order to let Dani’s happiness stay untarnished.

“I thought we agreed to figure out what happened?” Nell glares at her twin. “C’mon, Luke! You promised you’d help me!”

Luke sighs. “You never even liked Edmund, why do you care so much about his and Dani’s relationship?”

Nell rolls her eyes. “She’s our cousin and I care about her wellbeing, maybe?”

“This is about you thinking she’s gay, isn’t it?” Luke accuses.

“No!” Nell denies quickly. There’s a long pause and then, “why? Do you agree with me yet?”

“Nell!” Luke squeaks out in surprise. “I thought you said after you and Steve caught Theo with that bridesmaid at that wedding last summer that you’d be less nosy about this stuff!”

“Well that was last summer, before I caught _Dani_ checking out a waitress,” Nell says. “And I _am_ being less nosy! I haven’t said a peep about my suspicions to Dani herself. And now Jamie is going to tell us what she knows because we don’t have much longer left for lunch!”

“I really don’t think I wanna be a part of this, guys.”

“Jamieeeeee!” Nell whines. “You have to tell us! Please?” She pouts.

“All I’mma say is that Dani wasn’t so pleased with some stuff her boyfriend said Friday night. Talk to her or him for more clarification, ‘kay?” 

And before Nell can push for anymore answers, the bell sounds inside the school, announcing the end of this lunch period. 

“Gotta get to Calc!” Jamie pops to her feet. “Good talk!” 

“Nice going, Luke!” Nell grumbles.

Luke frowns. “I didn’t even do anything!”

* * *

**jamie t [11:45AM]**

_if i find out it was u who told nell and luke where i hide for lunch it’s over for u_

**theo c [11:49AM]**

_nellie said she had a really important school related question!_

**jamie t [11:50AM]**

_well she lied!!!!_

“Miss Taylor, is there something on your phone you’d like to share with the class?” 

Jamie looks up to see the eyes of most of her classmates and the grumpy old calculus teacher locked right on her. 

“No, Ma’am, sorry. Just a bit of a family emergency,” Jamie fumbles out a response.

The teacher sends a stern look, but returns to the lesson when Jamie slips her cell back inside her bag.

Jamie scribbles her calculus notes a little more aggressively than usual. This day is shaping up to be pretty fucking annoying. 

And because Jamie’s day has been pretty shit, she decides to ditch her last class of the day in favor of bumming a smoke from the kids under the bleachers.

She doesn’t expect to see Luke hiding out there, too, sharing a cigarette with some girl that Jamie thinks is going on her second attempt at senior year.

“Been awhile since you’ve decided to slum it with us, Taylor,” the girl remarks gruffly. 

“Not all of us wanna relieve senior year multiple times, eh, Joey?” Jamie shoots back. 

The other girl rolls her eyes good naturedly. “Got me there.”

“Spare a smoke?” Jamie wonders.

Joey nods, pulling out a mostly full pack and shaking one out. She hands it to Jamie, who sits on one of the unoccupied overturned crates in the little circle the group has. The boy to her left flicks his lighter and offers the flame towards Jamie to light her cigarette.

“Thanks mate,” Jamie says around her first exhale. 

“Narc incoming,” Somebody murmurs to the group after a few minutes.

Jamie glances to her left to see if it’s someone that might actually do some damage having caught them, but it isn’t a teacher.

“Shit!” Luke hisses. He clears his throat, sits up straighter. “Hey, Dani.”

Jamie hasn’t even managed to drag her gaze up to Dani’s face yet, too caught up in all the pale skin on display due to the running shorts the girl is wearing. She’s clearly dipped under the bleachers to get out of whatever the Phys. Ed. class is up to on the track or football field.

Dani raises an eyebrow at her cousin daringly, but Jamie can see the dark circles under the blonde’s eyes, as if she hasn’t slept all weekend, and she’s clearly not here to yell at Luke for skipping class or smoking.

“Didn’t know you went to school here,” Jamie hears herself say as Dani all but collapses onto the empty crate to Jamie’s right. 

Dani gives a lazy smirk. “Where else would I go?”

“Fair ‘nough,” Jamie shrugs. She extends her arm towards Dani, offering her lit cigarette, “you smoke?”

And instead of plucking the cigarette from Jamie’s fingers, Dani simply leans forward and takes a long inhale from it, keeping eye contact with Jamie the entire time. She pulls back and settles once again. “Thanks.”

Jamie gulps as she brings her arm back towards her own body, hoping Dani doesn’t catch the slight tremble in her hand as she does so. She breaks their eye contact in order to glance around to the rest of the group, noting nobody except Luke seems to have been watching their exchange. 

“You doin’ alright then?” Jamie asks the girl next to her.

Dani shrugs. “Bit tired. Not in the mood to run laps, y’know?”

Jamie nods. “Much more fun back here, anyways.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Dani rolls her eyes. “I’m a little disappointed, though. Usually somebody here has weed. Could’ve used a bit of a pick-me-up.”

Jamie’s eyes widen a bit. “Who the hell knew?”

Dani smirks again. “There’s a lot more to me than what you saw Friday night.”

“Theo and I are meeting up to smoke with a few friends tonight, if you’re interested in joining us?” Jamie offers without thinking.

“On a Monday? How scandalous!” Dani teases. “Count me in.”

“Can I come?” Luke pipes up.

“Nope,” Jamie doesn’t even spare the boy a glance, though she’s sure he’s pouting.

Dani grins, and Jamie can’t help but smile in return.

Jamie knows then, under the bleachers with a cigarette in her hand, surrounded by people but only having eyes for Dani, that this blonde haired American is gonna be trouble for her boring little life. And she’s sure she’ll love every minute of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think in a comment or over on twitter @ siimplyviibiing

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably only going to be a few parts long. let me know what you think so far!


End file.
